There was a good Christian woman who lived next door to an athiest. Each day she would pray for this man to know the Lord, though he chastized her continually about her faith. One day, the athiest was walked past the womans window and over heard her praying for the Lord to provide her groceries for the month. She could not afford to buy them herself. The athiest concocted and scheme to fool this woman. He went out a purcahsed two full bags of groceries, sat them on her front porch, rang the doorbell and hid in the bushes. When the woman answered, she shouted "Praise the Lord! He has answered my prayers!" Just then, the athiest jumped out of the bushes and shouted, "Aha! You see. Your God didn’t get those groceries for you I bought them myself!" In response the woman looked to the heavens and said, "Hallelujah! Not only did my God provide for my groceries for this month, He made the devil pay for it, too!"

“God provided and satan paid for it!

II. Have no fear. God can do the impossible.

(Luke. 1:26-33, 37)

"Fear not, Mary:... the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee:...For with God nothing shall be impossible".

A. God is working out His will around us.

1.Deism – Absent God.

a. New term to counteract deism.

2. “Immanuelism” –God with us. (Matt. 1:23)

B. God is working out His will in us. (v. 27)

1.Mary was right at the beginning of her life.

2. God didn’t take anything away from her.

C. God works in those who seem unworthy (v. 26)

“The message of Christmas is that God intrudes upon the weak and the vulnerable, and this is precisely the message that we so often miss. God does not come to that part of us that swaggers through life, confident in our self- sufficiency. God leaves his treasure in the broken fragmented places of our life. God comes to us in those rare moments when we are able to transcend our own selfishness long enough to really care about another human being.”